BigAngus752

Hey, you're on the right track! I've fished almost entirely soft plastics this year and I would still rather snag than miss a fish so if you have any doubt whatsoever set the hook. Here's Glenn with a really good explanation: https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/feel-bite.html

Wacky? T-rig? Weighted or weightless? Were you on the bottom? What's on the bottom? It's hard for us to tell you what you were feeling without feeling it. Hopefully someone more computer savvy will link @Glenn 's video on what a bite feels like. Here's the simplest response: Watch the line. If your line moves left, right, away from your, toward you, or you could feel your lure but suddenly it's weightless...swing for the fence. If you aren't in current and your line starts moving or suddenly becomes weightless it's in a fish's mouth. With all the snags on the bottom of my lakes and all the pan fish that peck at my stickbaits I've found that line watching is what catches all my bass when I'm fishing wacky.

Plus the Garmin Force has such great features...My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.

As Tom @WRB asks, we need more info. The argument for reel first is only valid up to about $40 for spinning and $70 for BC. If "I don't have a lot of money to spend" means you have $150 to spend on a spinning setup then you should absolutely be spending the majority on the rod. The same amount on a casting set-up is going to split that money between rod and reel.

I've done this just a few times with my current Lowrance units but since they aren't linked and I usually put them in the bow unit it hasn't been helpful. I'm also not good at clearly naming/labeling. I understand exactly what you're saying and I need to start being consistent in marking and exact in labeling. Yes! That's what I'm looking for right there. Thank you! My boat guy is a Minn Kota service center so I'm sure he will have this squared away for me.

Okay, this is really helpful. Can I assume that the shallower the water, the less amount of real estate you can map at one time? Just based on cone size?

My current plan (still open for discussion) is that for a retirement present for myself I intend to have my boat mechanic makes some upgrades when I take it in for winterizing this year. Here are my ideas: Ultrex with Mega DI and I-Pilot Link. Helix 9 Mega SI G3N on the console with Lakemaster or Navionics maps. I can't yet afford a new unit on the bow but I intend to have him run an ethernet cable from the console Helix to the front so it's ready to go the second that I CAN afford a Mega DI for the bow. I've never paid much attention to my Lowrance Hook units and they don't have anything but the included maps so the new Lakemaster or Navionics card is the thing I'm most looking forward to (second only to the spotlock). Here are my "I'm just a simple caveman fisherman not a techie" questions: 1. If I get a map card for the Helix on the console immediately, when I finally put a Helix on the bow and connect them with the Ethernet cable will I be able to see the map card on my bow unit also? 2. I've read over and over how useful and important the map cards can be, but if you have a unit on your boat that you can use to create your own maps wouldn't that be the most current and up-to-date info you could have? Why doesn't that function make the map cards obsolete? Obviously if you fish new lakes constantly you wouldn't have time to create maps for every lake but if I'm fishing the same four lakes 95% of the time would I want to spend the money for a map card? So these are my ideas and questions. Please advise and critique as you see fit. I should add that I actually prefer the controls on the Garmin units (and the prices), but not so much that I want to give up the extra features available by using a Humminbird with the Ultrex.

I love my Zara Spooks and I don't really "set the hook". The fish hits and it either pulls or it doesn't. If it pulls, I pull back (sweep to the side, not a slam upwards like setting a 5/0 hook through plastic). If it doesn't pull then I let the Spook sit for a few seconds, if the fish doesn't hit again I walk it 2 or 3 times and stop again, if the fish doesn't hit it that time I real it back fast and recast past the place I got hit and walk it over the same area again. I also use a line with some stretch like mono or Yo-Zuri hybrid. If you are swinging for the fence and using braid you are probably just pulling the lure out of it's mouth. Your hookset should be somewhere between Ned Rig and T-rigged plastic craw.

12lb Yo-Zuri hybrid. It's the perfect "in-between" mono and flouro.

Frogs and toads are on straight braid. All treble lures are on Yo-Zuri Hybrid.

I own Tatula CTs, CT-Rs, an SV, and Fuego CTs. I can tell you that unless you just like the way one looks over the other you only need to buy either a Fuego CT or a Tatula SV. The reels in between are just for lookin' at. I don't regret buying any of mine, though. I have inadvertently become a Daiwa fan. The only thing I regret is not buying a big pile of Tatula SVs when I bought mine new for $130.

It's not even Labor Day yet! Why would you bring up such a horrendous and painful subject?! I'm starting to get nauseous...?

I own a Fuego LT, a President, and a President XT. I will never buy another Pflueger. I will buy more Fuego LTs.

I know it would be awkward because I'm significantly older than you, but would you adopt me please?

Ned rig is my anti-skunk bait from late fall through winter to about June. Water temps like you are describing (80+) the Ned Rig becomes a skunk-guarantee for me. It's a total failure in the heat of summer for me. When the water is that warm I will T-rig a Berkley MaxScent Kingtail with the smallest possible weight and just let is sit around for awhile under docks or laydowns. Wacky-rigged worms are also usually good to prevent a skunk in warm water.

Excellent!

Which one? https://www.rapala.com/rapala/fishing-tools/scales/

I pitch Ned Rigs on 1/15th heads. The critical thing is matching your gear. I can accurately pitch a Ned Rig 15 yards but only on a spinning reel with 6lb trilene XL. If I put that Ned on my frog rod it wouldn't go anywhere.

^^^this^^^ I have used 12# Big Game and primarily 14# Yo-Zuri Hybrid. I snag several times per outing. I keep a large dowel in the boat to wrap around the line just for breakoffs. I have to get straight over the top of it and then it either pulls free, the knot gives or bending out the hook. I'm always so proud of my knot-tying when the hook bends out!!! LOL

That is an awesome set-up.

Excellent!

Twenty-eight years ago I was blessed to find my calling. I started a career (an extremely successful and blessed career) that I was most definitely intended for. A few months ago I was approached by some people that offered me my second dream job. I accepted. This week I retired from my career after 28 years and 21 days and I started my new job on a full-time basis (I've been doing my new job part-time and my old job full-time since May). It's like someone wrote the job description just for me. Again, just an enormous blessing. As a send off my former co-workers were kind enough to get me these gift cards! I thought that was an amazing thing to do for me and they are great people. Being the bargain hunter that I am I want the most for my gift. So, when can I expect the next site-wide TW sale? Labor Day? I don't keep track of these things. Thanks!

Yup, it's definitely not an arm wrestling contest. Like @scaleface suggested, there's no perfect answer. You have to try to keep them tight enough not to get further in or worse, swim a circle around something, but you have to leave them enough give to swim them out. And unless you fish really clear water you probably aren't going to be able to see what you have to weave them through. My suggestion is, if you have been "ripping" or "muscling" them out then let way up. You may lose them that way too but you'll get more of them out as you find the happy medium. I know I have lost more by pulling too hard than I have by letting up. As soon as I see they are tangled hard I will hit the TM and hang off the front of the boat to try to get them by hand. Rarely works when they have looped around something.

Are you saying that you aren't getting the fish hooked? You feel the bite and when you set the hook it turns into a snag? I fish only man-made lakes and I have this happen occasionally when I'm pulling the trigger too fast. The fish is deep under a log or brush and I jump too quick, pulling the hook out of the fish's mouth and straight into a snag. I think when the bass is under heavy wood you can pull too hard/fast and wedge the fish against the wood resulting in pulling the hook out of the mouth instead of a good hookset. Just be a tad more patient and when you set the hook don't give in to the tendency to try to rip the fish out. Set it and then keep some tension but try to swim the fish out rather than rip it out. You can rip a fish out of lily pads on a frog with a double hook on 65lb braid but in thick wood you have to work with the fish to negotiate it's release.

Caught a drum on a squarebill in 2.5 feet of water! Never heard of such a thing...